TO YOU, MR. ROBINSON

New film ‘42’ captures the man and the era when the color barrier was broken in baseball

I grew up in Jackie Robinson’s hometown, Pasadena, one of the most racially diverse cities in the country.

I played for men who knew and played with Robinson, listened intently to their stories, played at the same junior college and at his old high school.

I became a student of his life and career.

So I viewed a preview showing of “42 The True Story of an American Legend” — a film that opens at theaters today — with great anticipation and an ultra-critical eye.

Early on, my fears were put to rest.

There is a scene in which Jackie and wife Rachel are denied seats on a plane while in an Alabama airport in 1945. The seats were given to an elderly white couple, forcing the Robinsons to take a long bus trip.

In the scene, Jackie turns to Rachel and says, “We’re not in Pasadena anymore.”

I knew then exactly where the story was going and it had a chance to be historically accurate.

Thomas Tull, a baseball fan and a bidder to purchase the Padres not long ago, produced the film.

Brian Helgeland, who wrote and directed it, decided he couldn’t do justice to Robinson’s life in 2 1/2 hours. So Helgeland made the decision to focus on three years — 1945-47 — the period when the former Muir High, Pasadena City College and UCLA star, was chosen by Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey to break Major League Baseball’s color barrier.

Rickey is brilliantly played by Harrison Ford. The veteran actor absolutely captures the gruff, cigar-smoking Rickey.

“Branch Rickey is a character out of Dickens,” Helgeland said. “Honestly, I wanted character actors, not stars, to play Rickey and Jackie. I didn’t want people to see Harrison Ford, I wanted them to see Branch Rickey.

“But Ford was intent on doing the character.”

Ford disappeared into the character, nailing it like a long three-run homer.

It was also important to cast Jackie Robinson correctly. Again, Helgeland didn’t want a big-name actor. He settled on Chadwick Boseman, a veteran actor, but not a well-known one. His credits include playing former Syracuse University running back Floyd Little in the 2008 drama “The Express.”

Boseman is athletic, but not an athlete. And he certainly wasn’t a baseball player.

“Audiences are savvy,” Helgeland said. “We’d get exposed if we had Chad in the batter’s box or in the field, then cut away to someone else doing the action. If you can’t believe the baseball scenes, the story is lost. Chad was a basketball player, so we knew we had athleticism. We worked six months to make him a baseball player.”

There are dozens of baseball players in the film. No major leaguers were employed. Instead, Helgeland looked for actors with baseball backgrounds. He employed many former NCAA Division I players.

“We held baseball tryouts for the actors,” Helgeland said. “If two actors were even and one was a player, we took the player.”

A common thread through the film is sportswriter Wendell Smith, who chronicled Robinson’s experience. Smith, who became the first black member of the Baseball Writer’s Association of America, is played by Andre Holland.

Historical accuracy was a must for Helgeland. So language was important.

In the ’40s, people didn’t drop F-bombs like they do today. But the N-word was used at least 65 times in one scene alone, a famous scene in which Philadelphia Phillies manager Ben Chapman mercilessly heckles Robinson in a game.

Was it offensive? Did it make you squirm in your seat? Sure.

Was it realistic for the time? You bet.

“We tried very hard to capture the grittiness of the time,” Helgeland said.

That grittiness included making sure the uniforms, gloves and bats were correct to the period. Boseman nailed Robinson’s batting stance. Louisville slugger had records of all the bats from that time period and made bats for the film to a certain player’s specs.

A stash of old Dodgers uniforms was discovered and reproduced in exact detail.

Fans were dressed correctly, mostly in suits and ties, vendors were outfitted to detail and scorecards were correct to the period.

A majority of the baseball scenes were filmed at old ballparks that still exist — Engel Field in Chattanooga, Tenn., Luther Williams Field in Macon, Ga., and Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Ala. Ebbets Field in Brooklyn is long gone, so an exact replica scoreboard was built as well as an entire section of bleachers. Blue-screen images — where actors were set before a screen of Ebbets Field — were seamless.

How significant is Robinson? April 15 is Jackie Robinson Day in baseball, a day when every major league player wears his No. 42.

Rachel Robinson, now 90, will be at Dodger Stadium that day for a ceremony. The Dodgers host the Padres that day.

Honestly, anyone who loves baseball, anyone who played the game, anyone who is interested in the history of baseball and how Rickey and Robinson changed it, must see this film.